Current Sponsorship Programming

ALA's Library Champions: Investing In America's Libraries

ALA’s Library Champion program was launched by a select group of individual, corporate and foundation supporters who joined together to form a broad-based group to advocate for libraries and the library profession. The Campaign for America’s Libraries and its @ your library ®brand—which now supports thousands of libraries across the nation by fostering public awareness on the extensive range of resources and services available at their community library—was established from their vision.

When an individual, company or foundation supports the Campaign for America’s Libraries, they make a positive impact on libraries and the lives of their community members every single day. Children are overcoming hurdles and becoming stronger readers. Seniors and families who are living on less are getting information and advice. The unemployed are gaining job-hunting skills and getting the support and Internet access they need. Students and faculty consult with library personnel on their work requiring information resources.

ALA considers supporters of the Campaign—Library Champions—among our greatest proponents. Their gift helps every child, young adult or adult who walks through a door at a library or links to their online resources from home or school. Individuals, companies and foundations can become a Library Champion by making a $5,000 contribution or more to support the Campaign for America’s Libraries, one of ALA’s most successful public awareness and advocacy programs.

Today, the Library Champion program continues to build upon their incredible success and encourage the next generation of individuals, corporations and foundations to join them in a call to action and powerfully proclaim the importance of the library in American society.

Carnegie Corporation of New York awarded ALA $498,000 to support the Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award. The award recognizes up to 10 librarians annually for their service to their communities, schools and campuses.

Each year, thousands of library supporters nominate their librarians for the Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award, and 10 winners are selected. Nominations are open to public, school, college, community college and university librarians. In December 2013, 10 winners were selected from more than 1,100 nominations submitted by library users nationwide. Each of the 10 award winners receives a $5,000 cash award and is honored at a ceremony and reception in New York at TheTimesCenter. Meet the 2013 winners and read about winners from 2008, 2009, 2010 , 2011 and 2012.

Lifetime Networks® is a sponsor of the Campaign for America's Libraries Connect with your kids@ your library initiative, an outreach campaign that encourages parents to spend more quality time with their children at their library, launched at the 2011 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. Two video public service announcements, developed with a grant from Lifetime aired on the network and featured families engaging in activities such as reading together, going online and researching their family tree at their local libraries.

The initiative is designed to strengthen families by motivating parents to spend more quality time with their children. Specifically, the campaign promotes the public and school library as a trusted place to spend quality time with children. The campaign reinforces the idea that taking children to the library is a sign of being a good parent and demonstrates the free high quality programs available at the library for parents and children. Read more

The American Dream Starts @ your library, a literacy initiative for adult English language learners and their families, was launched in 2008 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Thanks to a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, the American Library Association (ALA) and its Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) continue to fund the the program.

In 2013, ALA selected 44 public libraries in 21 states to receive one-time grants of $5,000 to $15,000 to add or expand literacy services for the adult English language learners in their communities. This funding will help libraries build their print and digital ESL collections, increase computer access and raise the visibility of library services for immigrant populations. Since the initiative was launched, 104 public libraries in 24 states have been awarded the grants.American Dream libraries serve urban, suburban and rural cities and towns ranging in size from 850 to more than 1 million.

The American Library Association and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) are co-sponsoring a public education initiative for the international library community called The Campaign for the World's Libraries. It is based on the U.S. program and designed to showcase public, school, academic, government and special libraries across the globe. As of winter, 36 countries have joined the campaign and have had @ your library logos translated into their native languages. Learn more